Busselton Performing Arts and Convention Centre still divides opinions as local government election draws near

The October 16 City of Busselton election will have 14 people running for four seats in the Capes.

This week, we asked the candidates where they stood on the hotly debated Busselton Performing Arts and Convention Centre.

Mikayla Love

Personally, I am disheartened with the council’s decision to approve the construction of a $38 million BPACC.

I am particularly concerned with how this will affect our elder community due to how this will result in a rise in Busselton and Dunsborough rates.

We do have an amazing arts community within the Busselton and Dunsborough region, so I can appreciate why this has been such a controversial topic.

However, I do not see how this decision is financially feasible.

If we look at the City of Busselton’s past expenditure — $23.3m allocated to the construction of the Busselton Shire offices (which all now need to be re-cladded), another $6.5m spent on the Community Resource Centre and who knows how much allocated for the foreshore redevelopments! Most alarming is that all these developments have occurred within a matter of 10 years or less.

Since this project has already been approved, I just hope the designers take into consideration the gymnastic community alongside the dance and theatre community.

Anne Ryan

A community hall has been a want since the Shire took away the community facility in 2004 but the idea has become a “build at any cost, run at any loss” reckless proposal.

Based on the current City debt of $30m, and the auditor-general’s concerns for the last four years, ratepayers should be extremely concerned.

Adding conference facilities was a thought bubble which will operate in competition with our local businesses, and has exponentially added cost.

Suggesting it will be a drawcard for visitors is questionable but it will be funded by ratepayers, unlike our sporting facilities and libraries, which are funded by ratepayers for ratepayers.

The State would not contribute, despite many requests, yet ratepayers are expected to foot the bill.

There was no contingency disclosure on top of the $38m, nor was there any disclosure of fit-out cost at $6.5m in the latest community survey, which overwhelmingly said we don’t want it!

Fifty-two per cent of businesses also said they don’t want it.

Where is the openness, honesty, and accountability for a building which was originally touted at $18m and will now be closer to $50m?

Erl Happ

The arts are the essence of play, creativity, and lateral thinking.

The more music and movement, the better the learning.

Every school needs to be properly equipped. The support of headmasters is essential.

Necessarily, performance venues at schools are small.

Families come together to see their kids perform in “song-fests”, “dance-fests”, eisteddfods, musicals and band concerts. Ideally, the venue should be expandable, and look 50 years into the future, when the population is 250,000.

The debt burden will quickly fade as the population increases.

Ideally, a dedicated band of enthusiastic amateurs work to make their local arts scene hum.

Without these individuals, and affordable facilities, the result falls short. On a visit to France, my wife Ros and I came upon a community of farmers listening to their children sing.

They were outside a smallstone building, centuries old, and light rain was gently falling.

Nobody moved. It was magical.

In Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia has been under construction for more than a century.

Our building needs to be special, like the whale will be, at the end of the jetty.

We shouldn’t rule out a big tent — a soaring fabric structure. Contemporary architecture doesn’t thrill me.

Herman Dykstra

Busselton Performing Arts and Convention Center has now been approved by the current council.

If elected, my job is not to represent my view but the ratepayers’ views.

The feedback I have from the community now the decision is made indicates: It is our duty to make sure the best possible BPACC building gets built without cutting corners; to deliver the project on or under-budget; make sure it can be used in multiple ways to benefit our community; the appointment of the right management for running BPACC to the greater good of the community; and we are working closely and liaising with all community groups to make sure everyone is involved.

Peter Johnson

It is not the time for a $40m art centre, COVID-19 is coming.

Ten per cent of the deaths in NSW were vaccinated people. Lets not build a super-spreading venue.

Valerie Kaigg

I decline to give a response on that question at this time. As a candidate I believe that I should not express any personal views on something that, if elected, may come before me as councillor.

Brad Flintoff

I believe the current Weld Theatre is an inadequate facility for the City of Busselton and a new performing arts venue is required.

However, I do not believe the funding model proposed for the new BPACC is appropriate.

I am also not in favour of the council providing and running conference facilities, as I believe it would be more appropriate for the private sector to do this.

Given the City of Busselton’s total operating expenditure has exceeded revenue for the past three financial years and expenditure is growing faster than revenue, I don’t believe it is responsible of the council to saddle the ratepayers with the majority of the cost of building and running the BPACC.

The council has not managed to secure any funding from the State Government, unlike similar projects in other nearby areas.

They have also only been able to secure limited funding from the Federal Government and corporate sponsorship.

I believe the BPACC should be a specific performing arts centre only and that it should be put on hold until appropriate external funding can be obtained and the City’s financial health has improved to a sustainable position.

Michelle Shackleton

It is such a shame that this project, which should have excited our community in a positive way, has deteriorated into an all-or-nothing argument.

The problem lies in the fact that the complete financial picture still has not been laid out in straightforward and simple terms for all to see. The information drips out from council and appears in a dozen different places online.

This is not the transparency we were promised in the Strategic Community Plan.

I have joined others asking for our Civic Centre to be replaced since it was knocked down to make way for the admin building.

It has been on the council’s agenda for more than 10 years — how does planning go so wrong, doubling in cost, in less than a year?

A few groups are passionate about the project, but in a decade they haven’t fundraised one cent.

Our community is supportive and generous when asked — just look at the jetty.

Council has never attempted to prune this overblown project back to the build the community originally asked for. If they had, maybe it would sit more suitably in its heritage location, with sufficient parking nearby, supported by a majority of the community, rather than this huge financial burden that looms before us.

And not every cent of our rates needs to be expended on tourism.

Grant Henley

Although my position was to stage this development to spread the cost over a longer period, I understand the attraction of current low-interest and Federal Government funding available at the moment.

This project will be a hub in our city that delivers a diversity of entertainment, business and community benefit for many decades to come.

It will increase our night-time economy in our town centre, boost jobs, and be a civic centre we can all be proud of.

Council has modelled the long-term costs of building, maintaining and operating this centre and has confidence this can be achieved with modest increases to rates not exceeding 3 per cent per annum for the foreseeable future.

To put this into perspective for the average ratepayer, 3 per cent is around a dollar per week per household.

This long-term financial plan also includes the whole of council’s current operations along with other projects such as recreation facilities, coastal protection, waste and roads.

If re-elected I will continue to pursue value-for-money options that maintain the integrity of the project and seek other sources of funding to ensure that the impact to ratepayers is mitigated as much as possible while delivering a wonderful facility to our community.

Amber Janowicz

I support the council’s decision and feel the City of Busselton is ready to embrace being the centre of the events capital of WA with an enthusiastic and dynamic senior demographic and young people ready to engage.

Of course, along with other residents, I have significant concerns about the scale of the project and the ability for contractors to deliver to estimates in this challenging and changing economic climate.

The project will need strong leadership and a watchful council.

I am also particularly interested in ensuring that this centre will be truly accessible to our community and does not become a white elephant due to excessive costs needing to be passed on to consumers and ratepayers.

I want to help ensure it will be an inclusive, dynamic space catering to all generations — a true hub of connection and creativity.

Jodie Richards

I have had significant concerns regarding the BPACC for the following reasons:

We are currently in a global pandemic, creating uncertainty across all economies and societies, and we are in the midst of an employment crisis.

We currently have a housing crisis — a significant lack of affordable housing for people who have lived/worked here for many years — and we are losing skilled workers because there is limited accommodation.

This is a State responsibility but there are local government solutions. A survey indicated 53 per cent of residents did not want the project to go ahead. Is that level of debt serviceable, manageable and financially prudent to approve?

I am satisfied that this project has been on the City’s agenda since 2004, from community consultation, the City have and continue to conduct thorough and in-depth due diligence into the project, the business case has been independently audited, the City is addressing the housing crisis and the employment crisis within their capacity and the City has almost $70m in cash reserves.

If a tender is not provided for under the $38m it will go back to council, therefore I will only support the project if additional funds are not sourced from ratepayers.